Andrea Pirlo picks his all time dream XI

Pirlo had space for only one out of Messi and Ronaldo in his team

One of the greatest players of our generation, Andrea Pirlo was asked to pick his all time XI around a year back. Going with the 4-4--2 (diamond) formation, the Italian legend had quite a few interesting picks in his squad.

For the goalkeeper position, he unsurprisingly went with his long time Italian team-mate and Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon. The Italian shot-stopper is still going strong for his club and him along with Casillas are undoubtedly the two standout goalkeepers of this generation.

For the back 4, his choices cannot be argued. At left-back, he had recently retired Bayern Munich and German legend Phillip Lahm. For the right-back, he picked Cafu. The Brazilian was Pirlo's team-mate at AC Milan and had plenty of wonderful moments both for his club and country.

For the centre-backs, Pirlo went with the Italian combination of Maldini and Cannavaro. Cannavaro who was the 2006 Ballon d'Or winner was inspirational in Italy's stunning 2006 World Cup triumph while Maldini is widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game.

The midfield picks were extremely interesting. Xavi was picked to be the deep lying playmaker with Manchester United legend Scholes and AC Milan star Gatusso playing just ahead of him.

For the number 10 position, Pirlo picked Kaka to create, assist and score goals. The Brazilian magician at his peak was one of the best number 10s Milan had ever had and Pirlo did not hesitate in picking the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner.

Up top there was a slight surprise as Pirlo went with Messi and Inzaghi. Calling Messi one of the most gifted players to ever play the game, Pirlo had no doubts about partnering him with AC Milan and Italy legend Inzaghi.

While Inzaghi was not the most gifted of players, he certainly knew how to find the back of the net and was a supreme goalscorer often finishing off Pirlo's incisive through-balls.